H3 Resolution Guide
Cheat sheet for choosing the right H3 resolution.
Resolution Table
H3 Resolution (res) | Average Hex Area (m²) | Average Hex Edge Length (m) | Pixel Size Equivalent (m, √ avg hex area) | Common Raster Dataset Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 4,357,449,416,078 | 1,281,256 | 2,087,465 | |
| 1 | 609,788,441,794 | 483,057 | 780,889 | |
| 2 | 86,801,780,399 | 182,513 | 294,621 | |
| 3 | 12,393,434,655 | 68,979 | 111,325 | |
| 4 | 1,770,347,654 | 26,072 | 42,075 | ERA 5 (0.25deg ~ 27km at Equator) |
| 5 | 252,903,858 | 9,854 | 15,903 | |
| 6 | 36,129,062 | 3,725 | 6,011 | |
| 7 | 5,161,293 | 1,406 | 2,272 | |
| 8 | 737,328 | 531 | 859 | |
| 9 | 105,333 | 201 | 325 | Modis Vegetation Index (250m) |
| 10 | 15,048 | 76 | 123 | |
| 11 | 2,150 | 29 | 46 | Landsat Collection 2 (30m) |
| 12 | 307.1 | 10.8 | 17.5 | Sentinel-2 (10m) |
| 13 | 43.9 | 4.1 | 6.6 | |
| 14 | 6.3 | 1.5 | 2.5 | USGS LiDAR DEM (1m) |
| 15 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.9 |
Notes:
- Values are approximate (area and edge length slightly vary by latitude/longitude).
- "Pixel Size Equivalent" is the square root of the average hex area, to aid raster/pixel comparison.
For more details see the H3 Cell Counts Stats page.
Quick Reference
| Resolution | Avg Edge Length | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1107.71 km | Continental |
| 3 | 59.81 km | Regional |
| 5 | 8.54 km | City |
| 7 | 1.22 km | Neighborhood |
| 9 | 174.38 m | Block |
| 11 | 24.91 m | Building |
| 15 | 0.51 m | Sub-meter |
Choosing Resolution
By default, when ingesting raster data to H3, the resolution is inferred from the raster data. Using the resolution of the raster input, it chooses an H3 resolution with a cell size that is as close as possible to but larger than the pixel size (at the center of the raster).
For example:
- Resolution 11 for a raster with pixel size of 30x30m
- Resolution 10 for a raster with pixel size of 90x90m